* Posts by Ole Juul

2726 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Apr 2007

Sick of walking into things while gawping at your iPhone? Apple has a patent app. for that

Ole Juul

Re: Ridiculous

Your idea is better and more along the idea of what I'd expected when I saw the title of the article. Whatever system, I can imagine it getting hacked and one day after some people have gotten used to relying on it, there will be a lineup at emergency of people with broken noses.

Forget sledgehammers – crooks can CRACK ATMs with a TEXT

Ole Juul

Re: Sure it's easier than digging a tunnel

It's fast, and totally analogue. We had something similar happen around here. Someone drives down the street in a front end loader, and smashes into the bank, scoops the ATM, and dumps it in a pickup that just happened to be handy. It all happened in a blink, and they were never found.

Hold on, everyone ... Prez Obama thinks he's cracked this NSA super-snooping problem

Ole Juul

Laws

Only one rule. Don't get caught. Other than that, they'll do whatever they want anyway. That's the part that isn't being addressed.

As WinXP death looms, Microsoft releases its operating system SOURCE CODE for free

Ole Juul

Re: Trend?

OK, I suppose one can argue over what OS means, but I used 6.0 for a while back then and like many people didn't indulge in using every one of their crappy utilities that they bundled with their OS. Those are just utilities, and one could chose anything one wants from a huge selection. Remember Simtelnet? I run DOS 6.22 to this day and it only has 3 files (and the one that is the shell can be substituted). In my opinion, talking about the stuff they shipped with the OS, like DoubleSpace is not really relevant in real life. BTW: there is a DOS 6.22 machine on 24/7 sitting right here and networked with this desktop machine. It's a very viable arrangement and it solves a lot of problems.

Ole Juul

What was 2.0 really known for?

Two years later Microsoft released MS DOS 2.0, rewriting it to allow support for hard drives of up to 10MB and restructuring the filing system. Sadly it was known for being buggy . . .

Where does that come from? Yes, there were bug fixes in 2.1 but if you were having problems then it could also be because of something else. 2.0 did not have the right timing for the newer 1/2 height floppy drives, for example. I've got 2.0 here, and it works fine - even with a lot of programs that came after that. What it was really known for is the superior file structure and support for device drivers as well as I/O redirection and piping. Those things made it very powerful and really functional compared to the previous version. That's what 2.0 is really known for.

Schoolkids given WORLD'S CHEAPEST TABLETS: Is it really that hard to swallow?

Ole Juul

I bought something like that a couple of years ago when no-name Chinese models went down to $50. It was a learning experience to see what this kind of stuff was all about and see if it would be worth spending more money on a more capable version. I got my money's worth in that regard, but the device now is relegated to playing downloaded radio shows in the cottage.

However, the reason for that is that we have very capable desktop machines for more serious work. We're lucky. If we didn't, then that little tablet would be a godsend. As someone with an interest in vintage and minimalist computing, I can wring a lot of pleasure, education, and computing, out of some very old boxes that have one hundreth the power of these tablets. Even if we're lucky enough to have a surplus of computing power at our disposal, you better believe that these little tablets are indeed very capable devices.

And weevil, If you mean what you say, then it sounds like you don't have the energy, skill, or interest, to make one of these little things sing. I seriously doubt that is really true, and you just forgot for a moment just how spoiled we are in this part of the world.

Stop skiving: Computers can SEE THROUGH your FAKE PAIN

Ole Juul

Re: I'm skeptical

"If you ask me, I'm going to tell you."

I do hope that you are fine, but it would be rather self centered of you to think that a detailed description of your medical problems would enhance our relationship, improve our communication, and bring us closer together. Thanks just the same.

I think you misunderstand social convention. I also think you misunderstand honesty.

Ole Juul

I'm skeptical

As someone who has lived with serious pain for many years, I've learned how to not show it because it makes conversation with other people more pleasant. They don't need to know. Actually, I think this is something that most people do naturally to some extent. For example, when you ask someone how they are, they usually smile and say "great!", even if they are in pain. I can't remember the last time someone answered "miserable, and you?" Anyway, I doubt that facial expressions can be read by anything in order to decode things like this. Humans have always had a mask. We're built that way. In fact the word "persona" means "mask". Nevertheless, it would be hard for even a ouja board to do worse than people at recognizing pain in others.

IBM Boffins KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE, thanks to Twitter

Ole Juul

Re: Persons, places and things

"magicking data out of nothing"

Everybody's doing it these days it seems. Unfortunately it's very similar to "nothing out of data".

Dotcom's Mega looks for a backdoor onto NZ stock exchange

Ole Juul

Re: NK$

I didn't see won.

Mustafixedit.

Cybercrook? Bent on mischief? WE'LL GET YOU, vow Facebook and pals

Ole Juul

Re: No, no and no again

This is not China. These things are OK here. (sigh)

China demands answers from US after 'I spy on one little Huawei' report

Ole Juul

Re: Spying vs. attacks

Good call.

Ole Juul

Re: Pot...meet kettle...

"etc... "

Citation needed.

Middle England's allotments become metric battlefield

Ole Juul

How would anybody know the difference?

Since the size of the allotment remains fixed, it seems to me that both units and measuring instrument would be irrelevant. Who cares what you use to measure it with. You could use a spoon if you knew the multiplier.

Wearable tech for HORNY COWS: Biz slurps £3m for bovine arousal detectors

Ole Juul

Re: Moo'er

They'll certainly be doing penetration testing.

Michelle Obama speaks out against censorship ... in China

Ole Juul

Listening to all citizens is important

"Because time and again, we have seen that countries are stronger and more prosperous when the voices of and opinions of all their citizens can be heard."

Some citizens are, of course, taken a little more seriously. We all understand that copyright lobby groups and banks, to just name two, are particularly important citizens. Still, it's nice to hear that the voices of all US citizens are being heard and no one is left out. That is why the NSA is so important to western democracy. Yes, I totally get where Michelle is coming from.

Interview: Cisco's security supremo on the Internet of Everything

Ole Juul

Re: Base Camp One on Everest?

"Where is the value in your washing machine having a network connection? Is it going to tweet its mates about how many undies it washed this week?"

Of course not, but it will automatically update your Facebook page with that information.

Seriously, with a connected washing machine, you could expect an e-mail from the health authorities saying that they noticed you have done less loads of underwear this month than last, and that they're concerned about that.

Worse, the manufacturer could lock the machine because they don't believe it is safe to operate it after the warranty runs out. Could we be moving to "hardware as a service"? Anything is possible.

Google flu-finding service diagnosed with 'big data hubris'

Ole Juul

Hubris or indifference?

I'd say both. Since they're working on false assumptions, one might think that they don't care about the voracity of their data input. At least not enough to bother verifying it. Perhaps they should have just called it "Google Fu Trends".

US saves self from Huawei spying by spying on Huawei spying

Ole Juul

Re: Circular reasoning

I think Huawei spokesman Bill Plummer broke that circle rather nicely when he said:

"If such espionage has been truly conducted, then it is known that the company is independent and has no unusual ties to any government and that knowledge should be relayed publicly to put an end to an era of mis- and disinformation."

However, I'm not expecting the Americans to respond to that any time soon. They cant.

IBM PCjr STRIPPED BARE: We tear down the machine Big Blue would rather you forgot

Ole Juul

Re: VGA?, CGA surely

It had CGA onboard. I'll just quote from Brutman's site:

The PCjr was built with onboard CGA compatible graphics which was mapped to a range of memory addresses starting at B8000, the same address as the CGA adapter on the PC. The actual memory used was in the first 128KB on the system board - the video circuitry did the address mapping to move memory references from the B8000 address range to the correct place. The PCjr was not designed to use the TTL level monochrome display adapter, which would start at address range B0000.

BTW, the BIOS provided for 640K memory which some people find useful. It is also possible to actually use up to 736KB on that machine.

Ole Juul

Re: I am insipred

Yes, XT keyboards are not hard to find. the PS/2 to DIN adapters are commercially available.

For those who are inspired, go have a look at the Vintage Computer Forum where these models are discussed and used by many people. The IBM PCjr is much liked, and one of our members is an expert on these. Check out his web site here. Michael Brutman has also written a very functional and fast TCP/IP suite which runs on DOS 2.0 and up. It includes DHCP, netcat, HTGet, and a very fast FTP. His latest work is a web server which I just experienced showing the above web pages, and running on the the very PCjr we are discussing here. Even with multiple connections, it was fast and responsive. Old timers here will know why.

AT&T and Netflix get into very public spat over net neutrality

Ole Juul

Cicconi has special skills

"Cicconi argues that the increasing amounts of bandwidth being taken up by Netflix means networks need to be upgraded to handle it."

I totally get it. If I had a restaurant with an all-you-can-eat salad bar, I'd definitely try to collect from the guy who grew the lettuce if I started getting more customers because I'd have get more capacity and perhaps even buy more chairs for my restaurant. That all adds up. The only problem for me is I'd have to learn to live with myself for being such an *ss. Cicconi is obviously more evolved than I am in that regard.

MtGox finds 200,000 Bitcoin in old wallets

Ole Juul

Lost

I know lots of people who have files all over the place on their computer and can never find anything. Fortunately they're not bankers.

The Reg's guide to cursing in Mongolian

Ole Juul
Coat

Foolproof filter

Put that list in your html header and you could plan a neuclear attack on Mongolia without them ever knowing about it.

Mine's the one with the 2 for 1 Pizza Yurt coupons in the pocket.

'Arrogant' Snowden putting lives at risk, says NSA's deputy spyboss

Ole Juul

Re: Right...

Ledgett is a sick man.

Google wearables: A solution looking for a rich nerd

Ole Juul

The music is the message

I note that the sound track "music" consisted of one bar repeated. There was no harmony, let alone harmonic development - not even a turnaround. There was no melody, and no counterpoint. That is about as empty as it gets. Parapraxis or just plain out of ideas? Either way, I get the message.

ROBO-SNOWDEN: Iraq, the internet – two places the US govt invaded that weren't a threat

Ole Juul

Re: Stay tuned...

I believe that Snowden has already "spit out" everything and that it is the holders of that cache who are going through it and releasing stories at a metered pace. The idea is to keep this important situation in public view as long as possible and not just have one news event which would be forgotten in a short time. As I recall, Snowden also promised to discontinue his work as a condition of his staying in Russia. His commenting on it is another story - and a very useful one.

'Zotob' hacker 'Diabl0' arrested in Bangkok after three-year hunt

Ole Juul

Justice and bank balance

Does anybody know how much it cost to track this person down? Also, how much will they be spending on him over the next few years? I'm just wondering if this case (and others like it) is worth this much trouble. By the time it's over, the software will have been patched or completely changed, and I doubt that the process will be a deterrent for others. I'm not denying that he's a naughty boy, but from the article it sounds like he just caused embarrassment to everyone. The so called damage to the Swiss banking system I take with a grain of salt because those guys always talk like that.

Hidden 'Windigo' UNIX ZOMBIES are EVERYWHERE

Ole Juul

Who are we here?

"There must be a lot of Linux shills here!"

I noticed the downvotes too, but also see that most of the comments appear to be from MS-Windows supporters.

What kid uses wires? FCC supremo angry that US classrooms are filled with unused RJ45 ports

Ole Juul

Re: What is he saying?

@ Lionel Baden

"I'm guessing you have very little experience with WLAN outside of a 2 room environment with a isp router."

You are correct in that I have little experience. However, my home environment does involve several floors and a number of buildings, but I do only use three routers to cover that. I have no idea what "a isp router" is.

I do think that one does not need to solve all problems in the same way and using the same technology. That is what usually happens when a contractor is brought in. They want to keep all the profit in house. For classroom connectivity (forget the cafeteria), you could reduce crosstalk between rooms by employing a second contractor - one to paint some walls with slightly conducting paint. Not the same contractor, so it won't happen. You can also reduce signal strength from the radios and place them in the middle of the room on the ceiling. I'm just suggesting that expensive and complicated solutions are not always in the interest of the client.

Ole Juul

Re: What is he saying?

I get what you're saying Donn, though presumably an engineering type can figure out a way to do this that wouldn't be hard, and would be suitable for most schools. That said, I can actually imagine that the cost could indeed be huge because the school system wouldn't hire a competent engineer, but rather a very large company where the same engineer could do the work under the supervision of a large staff of three lettered desk jobs. I'm thinking of the Canadian government's recent plan to set up a new e-mail system at the cost of over $1300 per address.

Ole Juul

What is he saying?

"Wheeler charges that the system is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars per year by funding outdated projects that are rarely used."

I get that half the budget is going to something other than speed, but don't believe that a wall of rj45 plugs would account for as much as he implies. Also, if he wants wireless, does he really think that is all that expensive? Surely a single access point in each classroom would do the trick, and even the teacher could set that up.

Think drone delivery is hot air? A BREWERY just proved you wrong

Ole Juul

Re: Nice advert. However, ...

"Of course, it could be a very "light" beer they're shipping..."

America is known for its light beers. Olympia Beer has the slogan of "It's the Water". One sip and you'll agree. You have to admire truth in advertising.

Ole Juul

The fishing theme is a nice touch

Something else is also fishy. I see perspective problems in the video.

Good riddance to American internet oversight says Microsoft

Ole Juul

and we are confident

Oh dear.

GitHub probes worker's claims of hostile, sexist office culture

Ole Juul

Re: Awful lot of misogynists here

". . . the male dominated IT industry."

Perhaps not dominated by, but certainly strongly represented by 12 year old boys who lack parental oversight. And that regardless of chronological age.

Shuttleworth: Firmware is the universal Trojan

Ole Juul

Re: Wow

It is indeed bang on. "Abandon proprietary firmware code."

Not only is it a vulnerability as we've seen over and over again, but it is often deliberately feature poor.

To really do a good job, let's get rid of the "proprietary firmware" that is the pre-installed OS on store bought computers.

Previously stable Greenland glaciers now rushing to the sea

Ole Juul

Re: sooo.....

"sooooo... basically we're f*cked?"

You have a problem with that?

Flying Toaster screen savers return on GitHub

Ole Juul

Re: Burn in was easy to achieve

There was a brief period where CRTs were cheaper than hard drives, I used to use them for backups.

Very nice! You should have gotten more upvotes for that.

Ole Juul

Re: Burn in was easy to achieve

Perhaps the author is also one of "the young or forgetful" (perhaps the former?), but I've had a lot of monitors with screen burn. The top left corner would have a C:> burnt in, and POS terminals would literally show the same grid when you turned them off. Of course, flying toasters won't run on TTL, but when we got the more recent colour CRTs, then burn in became very much less common - though still possible.

Apple patents the super-soaraway selfie system of the future

Ole Juul

Re: Please bring the launch date for MarsOne forward.

Mine's the space suit.

Don't forget your camera . . .

Bitcoin bust litigants fling sueballs at Japanese bank

Ole Juul

Who's on first?

Although I do feel sorry for some of the characters, I'm starting to like the script.

Europe approves common charger standard for mobe-makers

Ole Juul

Re: Micro-USB is too flimsy

They're still better than cigarette lighter plugs, though I like solder pads myself.

Australia doubts ICANN is ready to run the internet

Ole Juul

Re: Law unto themselves

"I see controversy ahead."

And that's a good thing. I too wonder where that money is going. I'm sure they have high operating expenses, but pressure from the global community might bring some transparency, perhaps even some responsibility.

Facebook's Zuckerberg buttonholes Obama, rages against NSA dragnet spying

Ole Juul

Irony?

They're masters - but just don't know it. In any case, I can't wait to see a South Park episode with Zukerberg and Obama yelling at each other.

Not sure if you're STILL running Windows XP? AmIRunningXP.com to the rescue!

Ole Juul

Re: I hope they check their logs

Well there's proof right there that I am actually not very clever. I'll go work on my lines then.

Ole Juul

I hope they check their logs

I just logged in with MS DOS 6.22 running LYNX 2.8. Yes, I use such a machine! In any case the site was polite and just told me that I was not running XP. This FreeBSD machine isn't either - but I knew that already.

Reporters without Borders confirms, yes, lots of nations are spying on their citizens

Ole Juul

Re: Well done the UK & US.

They have a dream.

Microsoft closing in on Apache's web server crown

Ole Juul

I'm not buying it

Besides, it costs money.

Google encrypts Chinese search requests to subvert Great Firewall

Ole Juul
Coat

It's Chinese

How would we know if it's encrypted or not?